The Los Angeles Dodgers have won their first major league game in South Korea.
The Los Angeles Dodgers came from behind to beat the San Diego Padres 5-2 in the regular-season opener of the 2024 Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Tuesday.
The Dodgers started the game with a leadoff walk to Mookie Betts. With the count at three balls and one strike, Padres starter Darvish Yu was called for a pitch clock violation, giving up a single. The Dodgers had the bases loaded with no outs, but Shohei Ohtani grounded out to shortstop to end the inning.
Two batters later in the third inning, Ohtani hit a big foul ball that nearly touched the ceiling in the left-field corner of the Gocheok Dome, then took Darvish's 157-mile-per-hour sinker for a 181-mile-per-hour shot to right field. Ohtani, who signed a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers before the season, got his first hit off a Japanese pitcher at Gocheok Dome. Ohtani promptly stole second base, giving him 100 career U.S.-Japan stolen bases (87 U.S.-13 Japan).
After allowing a single and a stolen base to Ohtani, Darvish gave up back-to-back walks to Freddie Freeman and Will Smith to load the bases with two outs, but he struck out Max Muncy to end the threat.
In the bottom of the third inning, the Padres offense scored the first run of the World Series opener. Tyler Wade led off with a walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch by Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow. Wade advanced to third on Jackson Merrill's fly ball to center field.
The next batter, Sander Boharz, hit a 148-mile-per-hour slider from Glasnow for an RBI single to center field. It was his first MLB hit of the season and the first hit in an MLB game in South Korea.
The Dodgers quickly tied the game in the top of the fourth. Leadoff hitter Teoscar Hernandez hit an infield grounder and sprinted to second when Padres third baseman Wade's throw to first base eluded the first baseman's mitt. Hernandez reached third on James Outman's grounder to first base and scored on Jason Heyward's sacrifice fly to right field.
The Padres tied the game again in the bottom of the fourth. Manny Machado led off with a walk and Kim worked a two-pitch, two-strike 바카라 count, picking off Glassnow's sinker and slider. Jurickson Profar followed with an infield single to the right side of the pitcher's box, giving the Padres the bases loaded. Luis Campusano grounded out to shortstop, but Machado came home to give the Padres a 2-1 lead.
But the Dodgers offense broke through in the eighth inning to put the game out of reach. With the bases loaded on two walks and a hit batter, Enrique Hernandez hit a sacrifice fly to left field to tie the game at 2-2.
Luck was on their side. With runners on first and second, Gavin Lux's grounder to short cleared the mitt of Padres first baseman Jake Cronenweth. Teoscar Hernandez came home from second to make it a 3-2 game. The scorekeeper ruled that Cronenworth had made an error.
With runners on first and second, Betts singled to left. With runners on first and second, Ohtani took advantage of Adrian Morejon's 158 mph sinker for an RBI single to left-center field.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series will be played at 7:05 p.m. on April 21 at the same venue. The Dodgers will be the home team in Game 2. Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start for the Dodgers and Joe Musgrove will start for the Padres.
